moments

john mayer and sara b playing in the background, oreos strawberries coolwhip and nutella scattered on the table, warm but cool summer night outside, and kids setting up a tent for a sleepover while we invite more people over to enjoy the night.
i have a paper to get written before people come over to our house for jordan's birthday, and so we can celebrate, but it doesn't matter. i do what i can where i can, and just remember to stop and take a minute to simply bask in the moment.

my headboard

forever ago, i saw this image on pinterest. and while i had dreams of a beautiful upholstered headboard, jordan shot them down. so, after 4 years of never having a headboard and wanting one so bad, finally being in our house and itching for a project, i decided to make this happen.

as you will recall, this is what our bedroom looked like before (so so great, thanks to papa and mama brough for our christmas gift rug, and my cute neighbor who thought of me when discarding her lamps). but clearly, there is much lacking.

i spent over an hour at home depot with my buddy james. he was a very patient soul. and has been in jail at least twice. nevada and colorado. and also works at albertsons.

i got my lumber, got my stain (copy catted our friends ryan and kat who made these amazing shelves in their house..  tell me those don't look amazing!!)

the next day i stained the crap out of 'em. because the rest of that day i was helping the cute nisbets paint their kitchen. so much projects. many wow. busy busy.

after one coat of stain, and two coats of polyurethane, and the painstaking 4 hours for them to dry, and consultation with my dad... i hung them up! this is why i love my dad. 

i sent him that picture. 3 minutes later, he calls me. we chat for about 15 minutes, he brainstorms some different ways of hanging those monsters, and says he'll draw me a diagram and get it to me stat. 1 minute later, i have this. 

and this, and this.

because who doesn't stop to take snapchat breaks?









dad's idea worked perfectly. man's a freaking genius. i adore him. and that snapchat was a response to mandy who was so impressed by my shrubbery management, and i was so proud of myself for such a productive day.

and for doing all this business by my onesie. like i said--who needs their husband home?? or 4 hands to hang 5' long 30 lb boards level on the wall?!

boom. not me. 

but i can't tell you how many times i almost asked mooch to hold the end of the measuring tape for me. cause. ya know. she's right there...!    ....my dog is not a person. my dog is not a person.

anyway, i'm super happy with the results! and super proud of myself for tackling the scary lumber side of home depot and coming out on top. 

heck, tackling the intimidating part of all home projects and coming out on top! :) i'm incredibly productive when final papers are due.

speaking of final papers--a week and a half til summer break, and i begin my last year of grad school...! can i get a woop woop!! 

homeownership

you know what's great about owning a home?

everything.

even trimming your own freaking hedges. because guess why?? you get to do whatever the h you want.

with the help of google and youtube.

so we have these awful, sad looking bushes in the front of our house, and i knew i wanted something to happen with them. i really love having green things! just not such sad looking ones..! you'll recall from pictures of the house when we walked through that this middle bush was mostly dead.

so i just researched exactly what kind of shrubs these are, how to trim them, and went at it, with my handy tools from papa brough..! loppers, clippers, and an electric trimmer...

shout out to newmont mining co. for the prevalence of ppe (personal protection equipment). (i'm serious. i can tell you were approx. 8 pairs of those glasses are in my house/cars right now. GAH)

and this dead bird's nest.

i pruned that dead middle, so it's just a nice holey little guy! and trimmed all those mother loving bushes. taking lots of walks out to the middle of the road, nodding at incredulous passersby, to assess the symmetry of said bushes. 

the before and afters, for your viewing pleasure.    

i'm just real proud of myself! who needs their husband to be home more than 2 hours a day??

homeownership is great.